Crime of Passion
by Toccata No. 9
Summary: Becky does not forgive him. Oneshot. Jonathan/Becky.


Disclaimer: Jon and Becky don't belong to me.

Author's Note: Did this slightly over two months ago, wasn't sure I should put it on fanfiction, then figured what the hell. Whole thing was part of an i-pod shuffle challenge which requires you to write as prompted by a random song and stop when the music does. I edited slightly for clarity/redundancy reasons (so technically cheated a bit) but tried to keep things as I'd originally written them. The context draws from my comic project _B: D&P, _so I suppose this counts as a hint on what I've been up to.** If you'd prefer not to have anything spoiled, don't read this. It's like those movie previews that give away certain plot twists ahead of time.** I'm posting here because it's already something of an un-reveal on deviantArt, so decided I might as well provide the same option to you guys. Otherwise, it's worth noting that this is specifically _Scarecrow: Year One_ Crane. Because I think he makes the story more interesting.

* * *

_Psychological Recovery_ by Hans Zimmer

Becky does not forgive him. She thinks of the Scarecrow, his frozen eyes and words clicking together clinically smothered in hate. She thinks of his red hair and his height, rail-thin like a vengeful ghost masked in smoke or poison. He harvests screams and he smiles at her (_"Becky. I'm here for __**you**__ Becky."_) but there is no warmth or affection behind it. As they both know. Jonathan Crane rattles off chemical reactions eloquently as he slaughters her dog, as he strangles her, as he watches her scream on the floor of a train that won't stop.

Becky despises him. She considers his offer for months after refusing it, remembers that she'd gotten a scream from _him_ on the rooftop before Batman arrived. She remembers the little twitches and jerks of his body as he grew furious, agitated, afraid. Of her. And the force of rejection is no little thing.

Becky no longer pities him. She wants more, she wants to make him understand, she wants to make him suffer. And irony is her weapon of choice. She decides that maybe she does have what it takes to be Mistress of Fear. She begins to assemble a costume.

Becky is not herself.

Becky becomes a creature of nightmares, all maggots and unnatural limbs. Writhing, clattering vengeance with a face of bone and feathers that whisper. She wraps herself in shadows, mutilates carrion, kills who she sees fit, inspires terror like no other in the hearts of everyday sinners. Each night she bathes in blood, dines on hearts, swallows marrow, breathes secrets. Each night she flies to the Scarecrow and reminds him just how powerless he really is.

The Raven Mocker sings.

* * *

_Angel of Music_ by Emmy Rossum, Jennifer Ellison, & Gerard Butler

She suspects that somebody is watching her. It doesn't bother Becky initially—what kind of stalker goes for cripple-girls, after all? For a while she makes a game of it, glancing through faces in the crowds of Gotham, jokingly supposing this bum or that businessman. Completely ridiculous.

She never suspects the professor, and he smiles quietly behind his newspaper.

* * *

_She's Like The Wind_ by Phonkillaz

He thinks of her more than he should, and elevates her in ways that are unhealthy. Jonathan is no poet, but as Dr. Leland says he obsesses.

She wasn't beautiful (just another redhead without Ivy's figure), not graceful, not strong. But her mind knows terror too. He wants more than anything to escort her through Gotham at night, treading over a carpet of cigarettes and broken glass to a thousand people shrieking like animals under an empty sky. He wants her to know that it's all for her. All her doing and all her might.

But he can't have everything.

* * *

_We Both Reached for the Gun_ by Christine Baranski, Rick Negron & Taye Diggs

The trial was surreal. Press playing up her disability, playing down her anger ("He's a psychopath with biological warfare, people! It's not that hard to figure out!"), obsessing over her college-student status. Plucky Becky, future attorney at law.

It was so obviously a circus. They expected her to perform like a dancing bear and the rebel in her wanted to puke.

But out-performing Crane made it all worthwhile.

* * *

_Sweet Dreams_ by Beyonce

Realizing that she finds him attractive sends chills down her spine. It eats away at her like rot—fed by fury, slowed by spite.

But when it's just them together in a dark room, the air conditioning sending goose bumps rippling across her skin with threats murmured between them like sexual favors, she nearly thrums in pleasure to steal a kiss. It make him angry (he shoves against her arms, snarls into her lips, struggles to gasp out curses around her tongue) and it's worth it because there's fear there too. Jonathan can't help but return a little. That she's aware just _terrifies_ him.

And Becky decides this is only fair.

* * *

_Radical Notion_ by Hans Zimmer

The idea of creating a rogue worms away at the back of his mind from its conception. He can't sleep—excited and enthralled by the image of Rebecca Albright's head thrown back in an unrestricted scream. Making his victory complete over her (over the so-called ordinary people of Gotham) means snapping the girl completely. Force Becky to see the world as he sees it.

She'll learn to enjoy this as much as him.

* * *

_Overdose Delusion_ by Akira Yamaoka

Jonathan knows he's going crazy. She's there whether or not his eyes are closed—whenever the lights go dim and he's alone in his cell. Skeleton beak and yellow eyes glinting in shadow.

She isn't real.

She isn't real, and he doesn't _want_ her to be.

But that doesn't stop him from memorizing the tattered fabric, the notched shoes, the skulls looped around her waist and wrists. It doesn't stop him from remembering everything that shouldn't be remembered, watching the Raven Mocker watching him. His stomach a churning pit of almost-certainty, he understands that she is waiting. That this is punishment. That he will not escape the confines of his mind.

He wonders if this is guilt, and grins.

* * *

_Emotion_ by Destiny's Child

She nurses a glass of wine in the confines of her hotel room, red-eyed and numb. Her mask rests on the dresser. The lamp is dying, but it's soft and not wholly unpleasant. This could have been worse.

It could have been.

She draws a shuddering breath, consciously decides not to get herself drunk tonight, and wonders what he'll do next.

* * *

_This is Halloween_ by Danny Elfman

Halloween is his holiday. Becky stays inside and watches the news reports come in—a hysterical mother who never realized she'd murdered her child, one teenager who'd gouged both eyes out, college students still missing from Gotham U.

A single witness describes him as faceless, silent, joints bending at unnatural angles. Spiders crawl through tears in burlap. Words engrave themselves in the air as if drawn screeching by a knife.

Scowling, she changes the station.

* * *

_Slipping_ by Neil Patrick Harris

It's impossible that she won't understand.

This world is a hole oozing with refuse and madmen who won't hesitate to eat each other given the opportunity. No friend is true, no parent loving, no turn of chance fated for good. Mankind is selfish. They will destroy her if he doesn't

There's no reason for Becky to be staring at him that way.

Together, they can strike back. It won't fix anything…but then again it doesn't have to.

There is no alternative.


End file.
